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As I sat in yoga today I dedicated my practice to kindness. I’ve noticed that it’s been lacking a little bit lately. Maybe it’s just a college social networking concept, but since when did acquaintances become non-acquaintances? There are few things more awkward than when people pretend they don’t know people that they at one point knew quite well. I’ve noticed this concept particularly a lot this year. Perhaps people no longer feel the need to be friendly after freshman year, but still, it’s disheartening.

I’m guessing you’ve seen it happen before. I know I have; way too much lately. It goes like this: You see someone you recognize walking toward you. They see you back. They look down; pulling either the awkward iPod shuffle, the gaze into the distance, or heck, even the fake urgent phone call. So what do you do? Act the same way back; acting like you’ve never seen the person a day in your life, or do you call them out on it? Either way, it hurts a little. It’s a sudden and blunt form of rejection and I always wonder what caused the sudden change between a “hello” and a “hell no.”

So what does one do? Do you kill them with kindness? Do you smile so big and call out their name so loud that they know that you know? Or do you treat them with the “golden rule,” ignoring them the way that they ignore you? I’m always at a loss; because essentially, it is a loss.

So I mediated on kindness today. I focused on the idea of treating people so kindly that they will feel inclined to treat you with kindness back. Regardless of how people act towards us though, we can always control how we respond to others. So let us respond with kindness, always.